{"id":26033,"date":"2020-06-25T12:16:23","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T16:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redeemer.ca\/?p=26033"},"modified":"2020-06-25T12:18:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T16:18:12","slug":"more-than-a-course-for-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redeemer.ca\/resound\/more-than-a-course-for-credit\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than a Course for Credit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following was re-posted from Jason Chan’s personal blog, My Spiritual Suitcase.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Through my two years of Teacher’s College at Redeemer University, I had the incredible privilege of being a part of the Redeemer Concert Choir. It all started when I had spontaneously signed up for an audition at the end of my first week of school not knowing that I would be enrolling in an actual<\/i>\u00a0course for credit, meet some incredibly talented friends and discover the world of choral music.<\/p>\n

One Choir, Many Parts<\/h2>\n

There’s something about an ensemble that generates a unique bond, as you and your voice are woven into a community and a sound so unique that no other ensemble can recreate. The music you make can only be created when you are all together – the voices of basses, tenors, altos and sopranos blend to produce beautiful harmonies and dissonances to provoke emotion, tell a story, or share a message.<\/p>\n

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Choir Tour Spring 2019 – Singing at the Norte-Dame de Quebec Basilica Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n

It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12 which talks about how body of Christ – one body, many parts. Just as the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you”; the tenor cannot say to the alto, “I don’t need you”. Even within each section, all members must be present or the sound changes in balance – the importance of commitment is emphasized and pulling your weight matters. If one part of the body suffers (be it sickness or being unprepared), the whole body suffers.<\/p>\n

Marvellous Music<\/h2>\n

I marvel at the perfect and careful construction that you can see outlined in every score. Each section holds of a note at a specific frequency, which then with other parts make up a chord, embedded within a context or phrase, that forms and strings together a piece of music, associated with a word or syllable to paint the text to the listener. And then to consider that there was a mind that was able to fathom, write and compose such music, hearing it all in his head and then writing it down? Then there is the whole mathematical side to music! Are you not mind-blown yet? And this is scratching the surface! All this is possible only because of how God designed and ordered acoustics and math in our world!<\/p>\n

My only “regret” with being in choir was my inability to truly appreciate the music because this was a world I had not explored so deeply. Be it the terminology used in rehearsal, the complexity in the pieces we sung, or the beauty in the spaces we performed in. I wish I could’ve understood the fulness and magnitude of it all. Thankfully I made some friends who we were willing to grant me small glimpses of insight to what I was missing out on based on what I did or could understand.<\/p>\n

The Dissonance in Life<\/h2>\n

It also turns out that music goes beyond just the notation, technique, composition and performance. A friend of mine had me consider the idea of dissonance. Dissonance is a harmony that doesn’t sound perfect, it could be described as a “crush”; when the sound doesn’t seem jive together in a satisfying way. Consider Crucifixus, Mass in B Minor by Bach below, one we had in our choir repertoire this year. Can you hear the dissonance?<\/p>\n